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Kenyan, 2 Nigerian writers in Iseyin for Ebedi Writers Residency

Three writers, a Kenyan and two Nigerians are in Iseyin,
Oyo State for the May/June 2018 Ebedi Writers Residency Session. They are; Troy
Onyango, Socrates Mbamalu and T J Benson.

Troy
Onyango
is a Kenyan writer and Lawyer. His fiction has appeared in various journals and
magazines including Transition Magazine Issue 121, for which his short story
'The Transfiguration' was nominated for the 2016 Pushcart Prize. His short
story 'For What Are Butterflies Without Their Wings?' won the fiction prize for
the inaugural Nyanza Literary Festival Prize. He was shortlisted for the 2016
Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship. He is a Founding Editor of Enkare Review
– a Nairobi-based literary magazine and the Fiction Editor of the East Africa
issue of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. Troy will be using his
time at Ebedi to complete work on his novel, tentatively titled The Sound of a
Dream. He will also mentor secondary school students in Iseyin in the area of
fiction writing.

Socrates
Mbamalu
is a Nigerian writer whose works have appeared in Saraba Magazine, Deyu
African, Kalahari Review, African Writer. Sankofa Mag alongside other
magazines. He has participated in two editions of the Writivism workshop and
was recently shortlisted for the Saraba Nonfiction Manuscript. He was commissioned
by the Commonwealth Writers for a piece titled ‘The Lives of Trailer Drivers’,
which was published in November 2016. He is a book reviewer for Olisa TV and
has written a couple of articles for Waza Africa. To him, words are magical,
the very foundation upon which the world stands. Socrates Mbamalu seeks to keep
outdoing himself with every work he produces.

Mbamalu wishes to use his time in Ebedi to complete
work on his new novel. He also wishes to learn from the Iseyin environment and
interact with the locals. He would also mentor Secondary students in the Iseyin
community by helping them in English language and they in turn improving his
Yoruba. He will also encourage them to read more, through the organization of
reading classes.

Tee
Jay Benson,
the third writer is a Fellow of the Ebedi Residency having attended a previous
edition a few years ago. He has among other things worked as an Editor and
Columnist for Aspire.org.ng, MGE UK Men’s
fashion magazine, Afrisphere.com and Kaanem.com. He has also participated
in the Yasmin El Rufai creative writing workshop and First Bank Naked Canvas
Competition. He was commissioned in February 2015 to produce a collection of
photography and poetry titled ‘Self’. A prodigious writer, Benson has been
published in Kalahari Review, Munyori Journal, Sentinel Magazine, Paragram UK,
Contempoary Literary Review Of India, Jalada Africa, African Hadithi, Expound
Magazine, Transition Magazine among others. In September 2015, he completed
‘’The Devils Music’’ a collection of prose, poetry and parables and won the
Amab/Home of Books Foundation flash fiction Contest in 2016. That same year, he
won a publishing deal with Saraba Magazine to produce a novel; ‘’The Madhouse’’.

Tee Jay Benson will use his time in Ebedi to complete
a new manuscript as well as mentor students in Iseyin Community in the areas of
public elocution and creative writing.